INTER MILAN president Massimo Moratti says he has faith in coach Leonardo despite the stunning defeat by Schalke which all but extinguished their hopes of winning back-to-back Champions League titles.

The match began with Inter scoring one of the great Champions League goals courtesy of Dejan Stankovic’s stunning 50-yard volley, but ended with their hopes of retaining their crown all but dead, as Schalke claimed a commanding advantage.

It capped a miserable four days for Inter, who were beaten 3-0 in the Milan derby on Saturday to slip five points behind their city rivals in Serie A – and for Cristian Chivu in particular, who was sent off in both matches.

Moratti believes fatigue was a major factor in the Champions League shock but has confidence in Leonardo’s ability and claims the club are unified.

He said: “I can say that he is an intelligent person who is doing a job that certainly isn’t easy and he makes some intelligent reasoning. We are all united. This is not a situation that has us scared.”

Moratti, however, said he had been shocked by events at the San Siro, saying: “What happened was something unexpected, a lesson. We have to get ourselves back on track and with the players we have at our disposal.”

We need to respond, recover some physical and mental energy and get going again

Leonardo

Brazilian Leonardo added: “It has been a very difficult week – a terrible week. We paid the full price for a couple of episodes. Schalke had seven shots on target and scored five goals. Lots of things went wrong. We had used up so much energy getting to this point.”

Looking at next Wednesday’s second leg in Gelsenkirchen, Leonardo said: “It’s pretty unrealistic to think about pulling off such an incredible comeback, but together we’ll get through this .

“We need to respond, recover some physical and mental energy and get going again.”